The family of the late Sidney J. Blatt, PhD, chief of the Psychology Section of the Yale Department of Psychiatry for almost 50 years, has established the Sidney J. Blatt Lectureship in his memory.
Funds from this endowment will support guest lectures, visiting scholars, symposia, debates, and presentations that engage the Yale School of Medicine community in the critical issues and challenges of our time.
In particular, the lecture is intended to bring to Yale the foremost experts and leaders in the field of psychiatry and psychology, with an emphasis on psychoanalysis. A memorial lecture will be held each year as a tribute to Dr. Blatt for his contributions to excellence in the practice and teaching of, and research and scholarship in psychiatry (psychology).
“I am pleased to establish the Sidney J. Blatt Lectureship in honor of my father,” said David Blatt, Yale '85, Yale Law '88, Dr. Blatt’s son. “My dad had a life-long passion for engaging in interdisciplinary discourse, treating mental illnesses, and promoting university life at Yale, where he spent more than a half-century as a professor, researcher, mentor, and therapist. It is enormously meaningful to be able to remember him in a way that contributes to faculty, students, patients, and Yale.”
The lectureship will be overseen by the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and topics will be chosen by the Psychology Section.
My dad had a life-long passion for engaging in interdisciplinary discourse, treating mental illnesses, and promoting university life at Yale ...
David Blatt, son of Sidney J. Blatt, PhD
Dr. Blatt died in 2014 at the age of 85. He joined the Department of Psychiatry in 1963 and served as professor of psychiatry and of psychology, and chief of the Psychology Section for almost 50 years.
He distinguished himself as an analytic clinician, an empirical researcher, a personality theorist, and a beloved teacher and mentor. He was author or coauthor of more than 220 published articles and approximately 17 books, and he conducted extensive research on personality development, psychological assessment, psychotherapy, and psychotherapeutic outcomes.
With colleagues and students, he developed measures widely used in research and clinical settings to assess styles of depression, self- and object-representations, and boundary disturbances in thought disorders. A wide-ranging intellect, he also authored a book on developmental cognitive theory and art history.
The recipient of numerous awards for his work, Dr. Blatt supervised or advised more than 40 doctoral dissertations at Yale and other universities.